


Gift of Colour

by cakelocked



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: During Canon, GNU Terry Pratchett, Gen, Missing Scene(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22349878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cakelocked/pseuds/cakelocked
Summary: Inspired by the line "Right now, Polly could forgive Ankh-Morpork anything. Someone had found Paul a box of colored chalks."
Relationships: Polly "Ozzer" Perks & Angua von Uberwald, Polly "Ozzer" Perks & Paul Perks
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	Gift of Colour

Polly had spent the day being whisked around the castle attending meeting after meeting. For all she had no authority to make any Decisions,*) she had to be present for some reason. Mal hadn’t left her side either.

> *) Making the decisions fell to General Froc and the newly minted Sergeant Major Jackrum, who anticipated the General's coming commands with a scary ferocity and a slightly manic smile. 

'The Butcher' Vimes well, now that she had met the man, the nickname didn’t seem to fit, not really.*) In fact, she had heard someone calling him "Vetinari's terrier" when she had just happened to stand nearby the rest of the Ankh-Morporkian delegation. Another thing Polly had heard him called was “Old Stoneface” which she personally thought was much more fitting. Though the gleam on the man’s eyes did remind her of those hunting terriers she’d seen around Munz.

> *)He had actually told her to call him Mr Vimes the last time she'd spoken to him. Polly had thought about it and then decided to ignore it. One didn't ignore rank in the Borogravian army and doing so with a former enemy felt doubly wrong for some reason.

Commander Vimes had been also there, lurking in the background but always present, and always watching. She’d seen Sergeant Angua following close behind him. She really wanted to speak to Angua as a woman to another woman. An openly woman sergeant was… Polly found that she felt quite jealous, in an admiring way. If there were any tips that Angua could tell her, she felt that she wanted to hear those.

Polly sighed and resisted the temptation to yawn. Ruperts seemed to be the same wherever they were from, and the quality of discussion around her had started to deteriorate as people got more tired and short tempered. Finally it had been Jackrum who ended the meeting by standing up and walking away, which caused the rest of the participants to follow along the example with almost no conscious thought. Polly walked out of the stuffy room amongst the Ankh-Moporkian delegation. Mal had already glided off somewhere, probably to get more coffee.

For the moment Polly was alone, surrounded by the former enemy. _They gave Paul chalks_ , Polly thought absent-mindedly amongst the tangle of people filling up the hallway. She had a feeling that she knew just who was behind those chalks and knew that there was no way that she could give proper thanks to him; one didn’t go to Commander Vimes to thank him for giving coloured chalks to prisoners. It would be bad for the image. 

Angua appared beside her as Vimes walked past them, nodding to Polly as he went.   
"Do you want to visit your brother now? He chose to stay in the cell even though we did unlock the door, said it had a good natural light." 

Polly nodded and smiled. "That sounds like Paul." 

Angua smiled back, her sharp canines showing. "Want me to come with you to show you the way? This place is a maze. At least I can smell where to go." 

Polly accepted the help gladly. She knew she'd have found Paul on her own eventually; after all she'd visited the cell once before. Still, she was tired and hadn't truly concentrated on the way they'd walked the last time.

Angua broke the silence after they'd walked for a while."I think he was painting the carrier pigeon that flew into our rooms by accident. For some reason after the third time it took shine to Corporal Swires and hasn't wanted to leave."

Angua left her at the door. She also handed over a termos full of hot tea. "I hope you have good time with your brother", she said with a wistful look. Then she blinked and the look was gone as fast it had arrived.

"Commander Vimes would like to speak to you about the future, when you're ready. No pressure." That said she turned to go with a wave and a smirk.

Polly, still a bit puzzled, opened the door and stepped in. He was still the same Paul, Polly was glad to see. He was completely absorbed in what he was doing, with a look of happiness about him that warmed her. The brief visit earlier had felt like a dream as soon as she'd left and the old fears had tried to come back.

Polly had been afraid that he would be different now, after what he’d been through. Unlike the fears her mind had conjured up he was whole. Still, the memories of the returning soldiers they’d passed on their way to Kneck ghosted her mind and she had to shook her head to chase them away. 

The fat brown and white pigeon sat on a windowsill preened its feathers. It let out a _coo_ and Paul _coo_ ed back to it, his face beaming. Polly thought she recognised the bird as one of the those she'd seen Mr de Worde lugging around but decided not to comment upon it. No way a pigeon that fat is from around here, she thought.*)

> *) For one, it would've been eaten a long time ago.

She looked around the cell. The grey walls were well on their way to being filled with pictures and the cell was full of colour. The chalk set he’d been given must had been an expensive one. Polly couldn’t help but wonder where they’d found it. Did someone in Ankh-Morporkian delegation draw as their hobby?*) 

> *) Actually it had been Ankh-Morpork's Zlobenian consul who'd had the chalks with him "purely for making coloured charts". When Vimes had asked for him to part with them very politely he hadn't complained after seeing the look on Vimes' face and so Paul had gotten his chalks. Paper had been provided by Vimes, who reasoned that less paper he had around, the smaller chance it was that it somewhow transformed into paperwork.

Polly sat down to a bench by the door and enjoyed the silence. They'd have time to talk later and for now she really appreciated a chance to just _be_.

On the paper, the picture of the pigeon came to life as his brother worked, humming happily. Polly wriggled a bit on the bench, leaning her back against the stone wall more comfortably and slurped the hot tea. It was strong and sweet, just like she liked it. The moment was closest to peace she’d felt since before the full running away and joining the army debacle. 

“Look! It’s ready,” Paul spoke at last and turned to show the picture to Polly. The picture was just as magnificent as the one he'd drawn all those years ago and Polly found that she was blinking away tears at the sight of her beaming brother. 

“It is lovely, Paul,” she answered with her voice carefully controlled before setting the tea aside and walking over to hug him.

The rest of the world could wait a while; she'd speak with Commander Vimes and Sergeant Angua later. For now she was just where she wanted to be. She’d found her brother and that journey was over. Another could wait for a while to start. Somehow she just knew that the new day would be a great big fish.

**Author's Note:**

> Another brainworm of mine. Not beta read (if anyone wants to volunteer, hmu!).


End file.
